Exit: Stage Right
by ThinkAndReact
Summary: Hollywood Arts is missing one of their own. The worse is feared and when it's learned the missing person is dead, how will the gang react and how did it happen?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 - There Is No Upper Hand  
**

No one expected it to happen. I mean looking back there were signs, little hints here and there. But everything was realized too late. The news of what happened swept through Hollywood Arts like a tidal wave. Everyone was affected, everyone saddened. Sometimes it made me sick because all they knew was a name and the face of a person, how can they be sad when they didn't even know that for who they really were? What right did they have?

Part of me doesn't think it's real. It can't be real. Everything is a dream. But I know, with every fiber of my being that its not. What happened, has happened. Maybe I could have stopped it, but in reality I couldn't have stopped a train that was already in motion. Let alone a moving train that I couldn't even see. That doesn't make me feel any less guilty because although I didn't stop it, I was part of the reason it happened.

I remember where I was when we found out the news. The group of us, sitting at our usual lunch table, missing one of our own, worried about what had happened and why they were missing. There was a dull emptiness and no one spoke much just small meaningless conversations here and there.

I think we knew what the police were going to say before they said it. Knew before they came outside and made their way over to our table. Knew before they marched inside to find the principle or some other school official. Knew before they pulled into the parking lot. Knew before we could even see the cop car. Even so it was a hard blow when they said they found her body.

The wind felt like it was knocked out of me. I couldn't breathe, an uncomfortable silence seem to over take the Asphalt Café. It choked me and I wanted nothing more then to destroy it. I looked at my friends, they mirrored my emotions, the color was drained from their faces. Someone was talking. I tried to focus, it was the policeman. He was telling me what happened. I didn't care. The ending was the same. She was dead.

* * *

**so here's the first chapter, what do you guys think? Its short but there should be longer chapters to come. **

**Who do you think is speaking? Better question, who do you think is dead and how?  
**

**Please review!  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 - I'm giving you mine**

The school let us go home early that day, but we didn't move from our lunch table until after sunset. No one said anything. Our parents called us as they heard the news but most gave up after we didn't answer their attempts. Nothing seemed real but somehow we all got home, it was a blur. I don't remember who's house we went to but whoever it belonged to let us all spend the night together on the floor. No one wanted to be alone.

A few days later the shock began to wear off and the silence was filled with tears. I secretly begged for someone to say something but also secretly begged that no one would. People pretended to care at school, random people coming up to us and telling us how sad they were over her death. I wondered if they really knew her, or just knew of her. Did they even know her last name? I didn't know any of them; even if I did they were empty words from empty faces.

The only person outside of our group who seemed to understand was Sikowitz. He tried to talk to us about it, but it affected him almost as much as it affected us. During the week he decided to assign a large acting project. It would be very time consuming and difficult, thankfully we were all exempt. He understood we simply needed some time. The assignment distracted most of the other students and they began to leave us alone. At least, that's what I told myself, I didn't want to believe that they had already stopped caring. Even though I doubted how much they cared in the first place. My emotions were weird, all I knew for sure was that I wished she was still here with us and that all of this was simply a dream.

More days passed and it was the weekend. It was also a reality check; we had a funeral to go to in a few days. Each of us was asked by her parents to read the police reports on what happened. They had bought a folder over the previous evening. We were all hanging out together again and had planned to spend the night. I looked around the room at my friends, they set scattered about. It was weird, I couldn't be certain if it was my house or someone else's, I was still in a daze from this week's events. It was in that moment that I realize that the time for silence had passed, things needed to be discussed.

"We need to talk about this." I said looking up from staring at my hands.

"Why?" one of them asked.

"It's not like its going to change anything." Trina added

"Because we at least owe it to her, we need to understand what happened to be able to start to heal. These reports need to be read." I replied, choosing to ignore Trina's comment. A few of them nodded.

I reached for a folder that had been sitting next to me for a day or two. I never had the heart to open it. It was the police reports and notes. I just pushed it around with me where I went. It was a little thicker today then previously. An autopsy report had been added by her parents, I guess it was something they felt we needed to know. I took a deep breath and opened the folder, the white pages glared back at me.

"Now what?" someone asked half heartily from the corner. I didn't take offense to their tone, they were just upset.

In reality though, I wasn't sure, I took a few moments before answering. "I'm going to read it out loud, police reports first then the other thing." No one protested so I began with the first page, someone had very nicely put the pages in chronological order, from oldest and ending with the most resent. Skipping the subject profile information, I read just the body of the first report.

_April 27__th__, Friday 20:23:_

"_Young women reported missing, Friday April 27__th__. Friends report seeing her at school on April 25__h__ and again on the 26__th__. Little to no text messages were received on the 26th. (See next page for documented messages.) No reported sightings on Friday April 28__th__, Friends report receiving a suspicious text message on the evening of April 26__th__. Women in question was missing from school the Friday. Friends report not receiving any replies to text messages. Friends report they visited the home of the women in question. Parents reported not seeing her all day. Parents reported they investigated women in question's bedroom. They reported no sign of her. Parents entered station to file report. No further action is requested to be taken."_

Reading this now, I was surprised at our actions that day. Even more surprised by her parents reactions. From the outside looking in, we might have over reacted. However, I know we went to the police because something didn't feel right. The last text message we received from her left us with an uneasy feeling. Her parents followed us to the station after we told them we were going. They officially filed the report, we just answered police questions. How much time was wasted there? Would she still be alive if we had spent more time looking for her? I couldn't answer these questions that were burning in my mind, I still didn't know how she died. Maybe, in the end, there wasn't anything I could have done to change this outcome.

I turned the page to see the messages we had sent her. There was no point in reading all of them now. They were simple exchanges of "are you okay?" and "what's up?" The last message from her though, I read that. Not out loud, but to myself. Everyone knew what it said anyway, it was the one we reported as suspicious. We had all gotten the same text, it was simple and short. The message stared back at me from the page in black on white print. It read: "exit: stage right."

* * *

**I give you chapter 2! **

**So Trina was mentioned, guess that takes her out of the running for speaker or the dead girl. Any new guesses? **

**Please review!  
**


End file.
